Martha’s Vineyard nurses are preparing for a potential one-day strike because MGB refuses to properly value the important patient care nurses provide under difficult conditions in an isolated and expensive environment
OAK BLUFFS, Mass. – The approximately 100 registered nurses of Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday, October 9 to authorize a potential one-day strike. Nurses are preparing for a strike because after months of negotiations, hospital owner Mass General Brigham refuses to invest adequately in permanent MVH nurses and thereby is failing to address unsafe staffing changes and patient care concerns.
“Mass General Brigham is treating nurses unequally throughout the system, leading to staffing issues for permanent nurses at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and prompting us to take a strike authorization vote to secure a fair contract and protect patient care,” said Laura Hilliard, MVH RN and MNA Chair. “We are passionate about caring for our island’s patients and will fight for the resources we need to provide safe, high-quality care to the community we serve.”
The positive strike vote gives the nurses elected by their colleagues to the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital MNA Bargaining Committee authorization to hold a one-day strike if necessary. A strike has not been scheduled. If scheduled, that date will be announced once the hospital has been given the 10-day notice required by law. MVH nurses would then plan to hold a 24-hour strike unless MGB agreed to a fair contract by that date.
The existing group of approximately 66 unionized MVH nurses were joined in the strike authorization vote by 35 ambulatory care nurses from MVH who voted to join the MNA in July. The ambulatory nurses are now part of the MVH MNA bargaining unit and ongoing contract negotiations.
Highlighted Bargaining Issues
- A lack of competitive nurse wages and the high cost of living on Martha’s Vineyard has increased permanent nurse staffing shortfalls and put the health of nurses and patients at risk. Nurses are also seeking improved health insurance costs so they and their families can better access care.
- Approximately half of the nurses working at MVH are now travelers, rather than permanent MVH MNA nurses who are invested in the hospital and have deep knowledge of the patient population.
- Cost of living is so high on Martha’s Vineyard, that Dukes County Sheriff Robert Ogden told the Associated Press it had become a public safety issue because his agency could not retain 911 operators.
- Vineyard Haven was named the most expensive town in the United States this year, according to Lending Tree. The Economic Research Institute shows island towns far exceeding the average cost of living. Edgartown town is 56% above average, for example.
- Elsie Taveras, MGB’s chief community health equity officer, told the Boston Globe in 2022 as part of a story about MGB supporting affordable housing legislation: “It’s terrible that in places like the Islands, we can’t have a workforce that can afford to live where they work and care for our patient population.”
- According to a December 2023 study by Zillow, the top three most expensive towns to live in Massachusetts were Nantucket, as well as Chilmark and Aquinnah — towns on Martha’s Vinyard.
MGB Financial Highlights
- MGB made $579 million system-wide in profits during the fiscal period ending December 31, 2023, according to the Center for Health Information and Analysis. Martha’s Vineyard Hospital made $15.9 million in profits in FY2023.
- Anne Klibanski, MGB’s president and CEO, made a nearly 25% salary increase from 2020 to 2021, going from $4.3 million to more than $5 million.
- MGB is spending $2 billion expanding Mass General Hospital and Faulkner Hospital. This follows construction of a $465 million HQ in Somerville and a reported $100 million rebranding campaign.
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Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 25,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.
